Origen of Alexandria, Selections on Genesis

Selecta in Genesim

ORIGEN'S SELECTIONS ON GENESIS. 12.92 And God said: Let the earth bring forth the herb of grass, sowing seed according to kind and according to likeness. It must not be overlooked that it might seem to be a solecism in phrasing, the text, "God said: Let the earth bring forth the herb of grass, sowing seed according to kind and according to likeness;" for 'sowing' would not easily be applied to 'the herb of grass'. But how can it also be understood without a solecism, when most people would assume that 'sowing' is said in reference to 'the herb of grass'? It is possible, using the punctuation of a middle stop, to read it thus: 'Let the earth bring forth the herb of grass;' and after a pause to add 12.93 'sowing seed according to kind;' so that it would be, 'Let the earth bring forth the herb of grass, sowing seed according to kind;' with 'sowing seed' referring to 'kind'. Be fruitful and multiply. Being fruitful signifies the increase in size, while multiplying signifies the succession into a multitude from union. And God said: Let us make man in our image and after our likeness. It must first be presupposed where the 'in our image' subsists, in the body or in the soul. But let us first see what those who say the former use; among whom is also Melito, who left behind writings about God being corporeal. For finding members of God named, eyes of God watching over the inhabited world, and his ears being inclined to the prayer of the righteous, and, "The Lord smelled a sweet savour;" and, "The mouth of the Lord has spoken these things," and an arm of God, and hands, and feet, and fingers, they openly declare that these things teach nothing other than the form of God. But how, they say, did God also appear to Abraham, and to Moses, and to the saints, if he were not formed? but being formed, according to what character other than the human? and they collect countless sayings that name members of God. Against them one must first contend from the text itself; and we will compare sayings for those who know nothing more than the letter, which contradict their assumption; from Zechariah, that "Seven are the eyes of the Lord that look upon all the earth." But if God has seven eyes, and we have two, we have not been made in his image. But we are not winged, while concerning God he says in the ninetieth psalm, that "under his wings you will hope." But if he has wings, and we are an unwinged animal, man has not been made in the image of God. And how can the spherical and ever-moving heaven be a throne, as they suppose, for God? But also how is the earth the footstool of his feet? Let them tell us. For is the body from the knees to the soles of the one who contains the space between heaven and earth, with the earth being in the middle of the whole cosmos, and contained by him, as is demonstrated by linear proofs, are the soles of God with us or with the antipodes? And have they filled our whole inhabited world, or do they take up even more, or something less? Are his feet separated by the seas and rivers, or do they also walk on the waters? And how is he, for whom so great a heaven is a throne, and the earth a 12.96 footstool for his feet, found walking only in paradise, or appears to Moses on the summit of Sinai? And how will someone who believes these things about God not be called a fool? Then, after saying many things to subvert such an opinion, he adds. But he who affirms that the 'in the image' is not in the body, but in the rational soul, will present a doctrine not easily despised, having understood what its powers are. For the cognitive power in man, both critical and beneficent, both just-acting and strong, and simply the accomplisher of everything good, have been made in him by God in his image.

Selecta in Genesim

ΩΡΙΓΕΝΟΥΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΓΕΝΕΣΙΝ ΕΚΛΟΓΑΙ. 12.92 Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· Βλαστησάτω ἡ γῆ βοτάνην χόρτου, σπεῖρον σπέρμα κατὰ γένος καὶ καθ' ὁμοιότητα. Οὐ παραπεμπτέον ὅτι σολοικισμὸς ἂν δόξειεν εἶναι κατὰ τὴν φράσιν τὸ, Εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· Βλαστησάτω ἡ γῆ βοτάνην χόρτου, σπεῖρον σπέρ μα κατὰ γένος καὶ καθ' ὁμοιότητα· οὐ γὰρ ἂν εὐ χερῶς ἐφαρμόσαι τὸ σπεῖρον τῷ βοτάνην χόρτου. Πῶς δὲ καὶ χωρὶς σολοικισμοῦ νοεῖσθαι δύναται, τῶν πλείστων ὑποληψομένων τὸ σπεῖρον πρὸς τὸ βοτάνην χόρτου λέγεσθαι; Ἔστι δὲ, ὑποδιαστολῇ χρησάμενον μέσης στιγμῆς, οὕτως ἀναγνῶναι· Βλαστησάτω ἡ γῆ βοτάνην χόρτου· καὶ διαστήσαντα ἐπενεγκεῖν 12.93 τὸ, σπεῖρον σπέρμα κατὰ γένος· ἵν' ᾖ, Βλαστησάτω ἡ γῆ βοτάνην χόρτου, κατὰ γένος σπεῖρον σπέρμα· ἐπιφερομένου ἐπὶ τὸ γένος τοῦ σπεῖρον σπέρμα. Αὐξάνεσθε καὶ πληθύνεσθε. Σημαίνει ἡ μὲν αὔξησις τὴν εἰς μέγεθος ἐπίδοσιν, τὸ δὲ πληθύνεσθαι τὴν ἐκ τῆς μίξεως εἰς πλῆθος διαδοχήν. Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν. Προδιαλη πτέον πρότερον, ποῦ συνίσταται τὸ κατ' εἰκόνα, ἐν σώματι ἢ ἐν ψυχῇ. Ἴδωμεν δὲ πρότερον οἷς χρῶν ται οἱ τὸ πρῶτον λέγοντες· ὧν ἐστι καὶ Μελίτων συγγράμματα καταλελοιπὼς περὶ τοῦ ἐνσώματον εἶναι τὸν Θεόν. Μέλη γὰρ Θεοῦ ὀνομαζόμενα εὑρί σκοντες, ὀφθαλμοὺς Θεοῦ ἐπιβλέποντας τὴν οἰκουμέ νην, καὶ ὦτα αὐτοῦ εἶναι εἰς δέησιν δικαίων ἐπινε νευκότα, καὶ, Ὠσφράνθη Κύριος ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας· καὶ, Τὸ στόμα Κυρίου ἐλάλησε ταῦτα, καὶ βρα χίονα Θεοῦ, καὶ χεῖρας, καὶ πόδας, καὶ δακτύλους, ἄντικρυς φάσκουσι ταῦτα οὐχ ἕτερόν τι διδάσκειν ἢ τὴν μορφὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Πῶς δὲ, φασὶ, καὶ ὤφθη ὁ Θεὸς τῷ Ἀβραὰμ, καὶ Μωσῇ, καὶ τοῖς ἁγίοις, μὴ μεμορφωμένος; μεμορφωμένος δὲ, κατὰ ποῖον χαρα κτῆρα ἢ τὸν ἀνθρώπινον; καὶ συνάγουσι μυρία ῥητὰ μέλη ὀνομάζοντα Θεοῦ. Πρὸς οὓς ἀγωνιστέον πρῶ τον ἀπὸ τῆς λέξεως· ἀντιπαραβαλοῦμεν δὲ ῥητὰ τοῖς πλέον τοῦ γράμματος μηδὲν ἐπισταμένοις, ἐν αντιούμενα αὐτῶν τῇ ὑπολήψει· ἐκ μὲν τοῦ Ζαχαρίου, ὅτι Ἑπτὰ ὀφθαλμοὶ Κυρίου οἱ ἐπιβλέποντες ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν. Εἰ δὲ ἑπτὰ ἔχει ὀφθαλμοὺς ὁ Θεὸς, ἡμεῖς δὲ δύο, οὐ κατ' εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ γεγόναμεν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡμεῖς μὲν οὐκ ἐπτερυγώμεθα, περὶ δὲ Θεοῦ λέγει ἐν ἐννενηκοστῷ ψαλμῷ, ὅτι ὑπὸ τὰς πτέρυγας αὐτοῦ ἐλπιεῖς. Εἰ δὲ ἐκεῖνος μὲν πτέρυ γας ἔχει, ἡμεῖς δέ ἐσμεν ζῶον ἄπτερον, οὐ κατ' εἰ κόνα Θεοῦ γέγονεν ὁ ἄνθρωπος. Πῶς δὲ ὁ σφαιροει δὴς οὐρανὸς καὶ ἀεὶ κινούμενος θρόνος εἶναι δύναται, ὡς ὑπολαμβάνουσι, τοῦ Θεοῦ; Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ γῆ πῶς ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ; Ἀπαγγελλέτωσαν ἡμῖν. Ἆρα γὰρ τὸ ἀπὸ γονάτων μέχρι τῶν βάσεων σῶμα τοῦ μεταξὺ οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς περιέχοντος, ἐν μέσῳ δὲ οὔσης τῆς γῆς τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου, καὶ περιεχομέ νης ὑπ' αὐτοῦ, ὡς γραμμικαῖς ἀποδείξεσι παρίσταται, παρ' ἡμῖν εἰσιν αἱ βάσεις τοῦ Θεοῦ ἢ παρὰ τοῖς ἀντίχθοσι; Καὶ ὅλην τὴν οἰκουμένην ἡμῶν πεπληρώκα σιν, ἢ καὶ πλέον τι ἐπιλαμβάνουσιν, ἢ ἔλαττόν τι; ∆ιεστήκασιν οἱ πόδες αὐτοῦ διὰ τὰς θαλάσσας καὶ τοὺς ποταμοὺς, ἢ καὶ τοῖς ὕδασιν ἐπιβαίνουσι; Πῶς δὲ οὗ ὁ τηλικοῦτος οὐρανὸς θρόνος, καὶ ἡ γῆ ὑπο 12.96 πόδιον τῶν ποδῶν, ἐν μόνῳ τῷ παραδείσῳ εὑρίσκεται περιπατῶν, ἢ ἐν τῇ κορυφῇ τοῦ Σινᾶ φαίνεται τῷ Μωσῇ; Καὶ πῶς ταῦτά τις περὶ Θεοῦ δοξάζων οὐ μωρὸς λεχθήσεται; Εἶτα πολλὰ πρὸς ἀνατροπὴν εἰπὼν τῆς τοιαύτης δόξης ἐπάγει. Ὁ δὲ φάσκων τὸ κατ' εἰκόνα μὴ ἐν σώματι εἶναι, ἐν δὲ τῇ λογικῇ ψυχῇ, παραστήσει οὐκ εὐκατα φρόνητον δόγμα, καταλαβὼν τίνες δυνάμεις εἰσὶν αὐτῆς. Ἡ γὰρ γνωστικὴ δύναμις ἡ ἐν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, κριτική τε καὶ εὐποιητικὴ, δικαιοπρακτική τε καὶ ἐῤῥωμένη, καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς παντὸς καλοῦ ἐπι τελεστικὴ, κατ' εἰκόνα ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ γεγόνασιν αὐτῷ.